Taking on the Heartland Half with friends

Liz Breitwieser plans on running the Heartland Half Marathon this Saturday while listening to Taylor Swift’s album, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.

It’s over two hours long. She figures she’ll be a few songs into her second listen of the most recent album before she crosses the finish line.

Her running companion, Tony Brinkman, thinks she’ll run it faster than that. He likes Taylor Swift, too. He admitted that the players on the traveling softball team he coaches tease him about being a Swiftie.

It’s Liz’s first half and Tony’s 12th, but the local race that traverses through Jasper this year is a shared catalyst in their journey to overcoming challenges and growing mentally, physically and emotionally stronger.

Just like Liz decided to challenge herself and set a goal to finish the Heartland this year, Tony took a similar route 12 years ago. That successful completion led to bigger challenges. He’s now run marathons and ultramarathons—he’s done a 50-miler but isn’t sure about a hundred yet.

What happens next for Liz is still to be determined. She just knows that the journey since last October has been rewarding.

“If you would have asked me a year ago if I planned on running a half marathon, I would have said I could never do that,” she said.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour put her on a course to do just that. Last October, when she and her friends couldn’t get tickets to attend Swift’s Eras Tour, they decided to see the concert movie in Evansville.

“On our way there, we were talking about making better lifestyle choices, bettering ourselves, self-care, things like that,” Liz said. “We are all working moms and we don’t always make time for that.”

One of her friends mentioned Taylor Swift would run and sing to get in shape for her concerts.

“So, that’s how I got in into it,” Liz said. “I would put Taylor Swift in my earbuds, and I would run, and I would sing.”

Her first mile took a couple of stops. But when she finally completed a mile without stopping a few runs later, she felt she could do anything. Running took on a new role in her life.

“It just became this transformative thing,” she said.

After running a mile, she decided to run a 5k. “And I ran a bunch of 5ks,” Liz explained.

Then she decided to run a 10k and now, she’s done a few of those.

When she saw the Downtown Running post about starting up training for the Heartland in June, she decided to take it on.

Last week, she ran 9 miles for the first time—her furthest distance yet.

To reach this point, she learned that she had to train two parts of herself.

“There is the physical training and the mental training,” Liz said. “I don’t think I’ve ever done something where I really had to test my mental toughness like I have (with running).”

She admits that balancing being a mom, a wife, a friend and working on her career while training has been tough.

“I’ve dedicated a big chunk of my life to this routine,” she said. “And there is that little person in your brain that’s like, ‘You don’t really want to do this.'”

There have been times when she has wanted to quit, especially on hotter days.

“Sometimes the run is not about my physical strength, the run is about telling that person ‘You’re not in charge, I’m in charge and I am doing this,'” Liz said.

Fortunately, through Downtown Running’s training group meetings, Liz has formed some new friendships, which have been a big part of her and Tony’s journeys. Some of the best moments for both runners occur after the Wednesday or Sunday runs, when everyone hangs out and talks together, laughing, encouraging or challenging each other.

“That’s another cool thing that has come about by this journey,” she said. “I have this whole new group of friends that are so amazing.”

That group has helped her learn how to fuel for the long run, the proper ways to rest, strengthen and train smarter, and reassured her that experiencing hiccups is part of the process.

Tony had planned on racing this year’s Heartland. He’s steadily been chopping away at his personal record, but while running the Wetlauf this year, he ripped his calf in the first mile, and “I ran the whole thing,” he laughed while also admonishing his decision. “I couldn’t walk that night.”

He’s recovering, but his injury has changed his plans for this year. Instead of racing, he will run with Liz and support her through her first race.

Tony will turn 52 on the Monday after this year’s Heartland. About a week before his 40th birthday, he decided to go on a run with the simple goal of getting into better shape and being able to chase his then three-year-old around.

“I took off running around the block and 30 seconds in I stopped because I thought I was going to die,” he laughed.

He finally did a mile and had worked up to running about a mile and a half about five times a week when someone asked if he wanted to do the Monster Mash 5K in Ferdinand. He wasn’t sure but figured he could run a mile and then walk a mile if he had to. He ended up being able to run the whole thing in about half an hour.

That success made him want to get better; he wanted to compete.

“So, six months later, I ran like a 22-minute 5k and I just built from there,” he said.

He kept running 5Ks, but then someone suggested he try a half-marathon. “I wasn’t sure about that,” Tony admitted.

But he did it too, and then a marathon, which has led to two attempts at qualifying for Boston. “I was on pace to qualify both times but had a cramping issue both times right around the 21-mile mark,” Tony explained.

But he’s had plenty of personal accomplishments, which is what running is about. His best 5k time is 19:37, and he’s run an ultra. Looking back, he finds it hard to fathom how far he has come.

And like Liz, he found new friends in the running community. He credits guys like Ben Gessner, Phil Wolf, Kenny Hochgesang and Kurt “Farmer” Voelkel, who all helped him as he learned how to run long distances early on.

He considers passing along the knowledge he’s gained over the years a way of giving back in the same generous way other runners have given to him.

That’s why he’s going to help Liz with her run. He knows that it’s her race and her pace, just like it is with every runner. But, with some extra support and the added energy of all the other runners out there on Saturday, he figures she may be able to finish a little quicker than her average. Maybe only one song into the second listen-through of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.

Liz said she plans to keep running regardless of what happens on Saturday.

She and Tony agree that if you can move, you should start preparing to take on a challenge like this.

“I think everyone should try it,” Liz said. “You can walk the half if you want to. It’s not about anybody else’s race; it is about your race. It is your race.”

There is still time to sign up for the Heartland Half Marathon, 5k, Team Challenge and Kids Fun Run taking place in Jasper this Friday and Saturday. Maybe you aren’t ready for 13 miles, but you still have time to pull a team together for the Team Challenge or take on the 5K yourself.

The majority of the proceeds (90 percent) from event is split between the Phillip R. Dawkins Heart & Vascular Center (to be utilized for new integrative medicine services provided to patients at Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center) and Girls on the Run of Southwest Indiana. The remaining 10 percent goes into the DC Multisport Endowment for future charitable causes and giving. 

Here is the Half-Marathon Route for Jasper.